1. Field
One or more embodiments of the present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for filtering sound source signals in a sound acquisition device including a microphone array, and more particularly, to a method of and apparatus for filtering a plurality of sound source signals input through a microphone array to obtain particular sound source signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, recording of an external voice, recording of a video file, or speaking on the phone can be easily performed by using a portable digital device. In order to record sound source signals, microphones are used for various digital devices such as mobile phones and consumer electronics. In addition, a microphone array including a plurality of microphones is generally used to easily process an acquired sound source signal.
The microphone array can obtain additional characteristics on directivity such as a direction or a position of a sound source signal to be acquired in addition to the sound source signal itself by combining a plurality of microphones. The directivity represents increases in sensitivity of sound source signals emitted from a sound source in a particular direction by using differences in times the sound source signals arrive at each microphone. Therefore, by acquiring sound source signals through a use of the microphone array, the sound signal input in a particular direction can either be emphasized or suppressed.
Unless recording is performed in a soundproof studio, recording a sound source signal or receiving a sound source signal by using a general digital device is more often performed in an environment with a presence of noise and interferences rather than in a quiet environment free from noise. Therefore, in order to extract a particular sound source signal for a user from mixed sound source signals via the division of each sound source signal, or to remove a sound source signal corresponding to unnecessary interference noise, various sound source signal processing technologies have been developed.